


Some Other Beginning's End

by khaleesiq



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/M, Infidelity, M/M, Multi, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-12
Updated: 2013-06-12
Packaged: 2017-12-14 18:57:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/840252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaleesiq/pseuds/khaleesiq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eleanor wants nothing more from the new school year than to forget about her summer with Harry. However, things get a lot more complicated when he shows up at her school on the first day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Other Beginning's End

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elduderino](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elduderino/gifts), [WhiteBoat12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteBoat12/gifts).



> Okay, so my sister and her friend wanted me to write a really good Heleanor (is that what they're called?) fic where Harry and Eleanor are broken up but when she starts dating Louis he tries to win her back and somehow this happened, with a totally unintended ending. They also requested some really hot sex scenes between Harry and Eleanor but I'm sorry if they're not that great. Title taken from the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic (not Third Eye Blind).

The fan on the bed beside Eleanor is on its highest setting, blowing air on Eleanor's face but in no way does it make her feel any cooler. It's so hot in Zayn's room that the fan is just blowing warm air aroundh and she wonders what the point of the fan even is if it's not doing its job. She eyes Niall's water bottle on the ground next to him and considers pouring it over herself. But the heat is so unbearable that she doesn't know if even  _that_ will do the trick. For once in her life she's actually looking forward to school starting and the colder temperatures that come with it.

"Oi! Eleanor!" Niall says, throwing one of Zayn's discarded socks at her. "Are you listening?"

She shakes her head and mutters, "S'too hot to  _think_ or  _do_ anything."

"You don't have to think or do anything," Zayn tells her. "Just listen and tell us how great my ideas are."

"If they came from you two I seriously doubt they're that great," Eleanor says.

"Actually most of them were  _my_ ideas," Niall points out.

"Yeah, but Liam is  _my_ boyfriend therefore I get to take all the credit," Zayn counters.

"Just tell me your stupid ideas so I can get the fuck out of here and into a cold shower," Eleanor snaps.

"Well someone's grouchy," Niall mutters.

"It's not me it's the heat," Eleanor says. "But seriously if I don't hear some ideas soon I'm going to murder you both in your sleep."

"Okay, that's enough death threats for today," Zayn says. "So here's what we have so far: we rent out a fancy club and get him a limo for him to arrive in, and when he steps out a dozen white doves fly out and he's dressed in a tux--"

Eleanor cuts him off. "I understand that you love him and want him to have the best birthday ever, but do you have any ideas that  _won't_ cost me a shitload of money?"

Zayn and Niall exchange glances. "No," Zayn admits and Eleanor sighs and sits up.

"Alright," she says after some thought, "how about this: his aunt has this beach house that he's taken us to a couple of times, right? So we ask them if we can throw his surprise party there but they invite Liam over for a 'birthday lunch' at, let's say two-ish, and then when he gets there we all yell, 'surprise' and all that bullshit, sound good?"

Zayn and Niall consider this. Finally, Zayn says slowly, "That's...actually not a bad idea."

Eleanor falls back on the bed again in exasperation. "Great. Can I go home now?"

"Sure," Zayn says, "as long as you let me take all the credit."

Eleanor rolls her eyes at him as she gets up and heads for the door. "Of course. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't let my best friend's boyfriend take credit for all my great ideas?"

Zayn flashes her a grin. "Thanks, El, you're the best."

"I know," she says and leaves the room. When she's halfway down the stairs she feels her phone buzzing against her leg. She pulls it out of her pocket and groans when she sees the name  _Harry_ lighting up the screen. She presses "ignore" and continues down the stairs.

She's been asking her parents for a car since she turned sixteen a year ago, but they obviously thought that she would benefit more from a laptop. Not that she didn't appreciate the laptop, but she would still like a better form of transportation than walking or relying on friends' cars. So that's why she walks home now and has so much time to think about what had happened between her and Harry. Actually more like what  _didn't_ happen between her and Harry.

They hadn't been dating that long, having only met at the beginning of the summer at the lifeguarding course at the beach, so it shouldn't really have been that big of a deal to her. And at first it hadn't. But the problem was, as they began to spend more and more time together, and Eleanor began to spend less and less time with her friends, she'd started to grow deeper and more serious feelings for him. She told him as much a few days before, since summer was drawing to an end, but he'd said that he hadn't really seen their relationship as anything that serious and more as a "summer fling". Eleanor left before he could say anything else or try to apologize.

Harry had called her only twice in the last couple of days and Eleanor had ignored him both times. But she's confused; if he wasn't serious about their relationship then why is he trying so hard to make her feel better? She wishes he would just stop being so fucking sweet and apologetic so she doesn't have to think about him so much.

She decides that there's one more thing to add to her list of reasons why she can't wait to get back to school: no more Harry.

***

Niall has eaten all the food. Well, maybe not  _all_ of it, but enough that it has Eleanor pissed off and driving to the store in Liam's aunt's car just ten minutes before Liam is supposed to arrive.

She doesn't pay attention to the kinds of snacks she's grabbing, figuring that at least Niall will eat them if no one likes them. She finds the shortest line and taps her foot impatiently as she waits for what is possibly the oldest lady alive to check her out.

Eleanor breaks all kinds of laws trying to get back to the house in time (even though she really should be more cautious than usual considering she's not driving her own car). She breathes a sigh of relief when she arrives and she doesn't see Liam's car anywhere. She parks Niall's car down the street so Liam doesn't get suspicious when he sees a shit ton of cars at his aunt's house.

She hurries to the front door, bags in hand, but freezes when she hears a car coming down the street. She whirls around and sees Liam's car heading toward the house.

"Shit," she mutters under her breath before rushing to the back fence. She tries to open it but of course, it's locked. She throws the bag of food over the fence and starts to climb.

"El?"

Eleanor is so surprised by Liam's voice that she loses her grip and falls to the ground.

"Fuck!" Eleanor cries and Liam rushes over to see if she's okay. He helps her stand up and once he's sure she didn't sprain or break anything he gives her a questioning look.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

"I, er, I was just...I was invited to your birthday lunch," she says and gives herself a mental pat on the back for being so damn quick on her feet.

"You were?" Liam looks doubtful, but he accepts her answer anyway. "Erm, alright, but why were you climbing the fence?"

Eleanor stares at him, her mind blank with excuses. Then she's quickly ushering him to the front door saying, "C'mon Liam, your aunt will be waiting," and whisks them both inside before he has time to ask her anything else.

As soon as they step through the door shouts of "Surprise!" welcome them. Liam gapes, clearly taken aback by all of this, before he starts laughing and thanking them for being such incredible friends.

Zayn and Niall approach them and Zayn wraps Liam up in giant hug and says, "Happy birthday babe," in his ear. "By the way, don't listen to Eleanor and Niall, this was all my idea."

Liam laughs and pulls back just a little so he can kiss Zayn on the lips. "Thank you, Zayn. I love it."

Niall and Eleanor groan and roll their eyes at them. Sure, they're completely sweet and totally endearing but it can be a bit annoying at times.

"So where's the food?" Niall asks her suddenly.

"I threw it over the fence so I could climb it easier," Eleanor tells him.

Niall raises an eyebrow but Eleanor just shakes her head and says, "Don't ask." Niall nods and races to the backyard to get the food.

After a while the party starts to move to the backyard and people begin changing into their swimsuits for a dip in the pool. Eleanor sits in one of the lounge chairs next to Liam, Zayn, and Niall, watching everybody enjoy themselves.

"Mind if I join?" a familiar voice says from behind Eleanor. She whirls around and her face breaks out into a huge smile when she sees who it is.

"Oh my god, Louis!" she exclaims as she jumps up and envelops him in a hug. "I can't believe you're here! I thought you weren't getting back until the fifth of September?"

Louis chuckles and replies, "Are you kidding me? I couldn't miss Liam's birthday."

They pull away from each other so Louis can greet Liam, Zayn, and Niall. When they're finished Eleanor asks Louis, "How was camp?"

Louis had attended a drama camp that lasted from the beginning of June to the beginning of September, right before school started. During the first week Louis had texted her every night, telling Eleanor about how much fun he was having but he also talked about how much he missed her. But week after week the texts dwindled down to two a week, three a week until by mid-July Louis wasn't texting her at all. It didn't bother Eleanor until the Harry thing happened and she wanted nothing more than to call Louis and tell him all about it.

"It was great," Louis says, face lit up with enthusiasm. "How was life guarding with--"

"Good," Eleanor says quickly before he can say "Harry". Louis is the only person she's told about Harry and she would rather not bring him up now. The last thing he'd heard about them was that she liked him a lot more than she'd wanted, so it would make everything that much more awkward if she had to explain the entire situation, not just to Louis but to everyone.

Louis eyes her curiously but Eleanor shoots him a look that says,  _I'll tell you everything later._ Louis seems to understand because he nods and continues talking to Liam.

At one point, Liam and Niall decide to go for a swim in the pool. Liam strips his shirt off and Zayn's eyes rake over Liam's abs. Eleanor rolls her eyes at him because he's probably seen Liam naked over a hundred times but he always seems to be struck dumb whenever Liam takes off his shirt.

Liam grabs Zayn's hands and pulls him up but Zayn shakes his head and says, "No way, Li, there is no way I'm going swimming."

Liam pouts. "But  _Zayn_."

"No."

" _Zayn please_. For me?" Liam gives him these big sad puppy dog eyes that are impossible to say no to.

"Fine," Zayn relents, sighing. "But I'm not going in. I'm just going to sit on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water, okay?"

Liam grins and pulls Zayn toward the pool. Louis scoots closer to Eleanor as they watch Liam and Niall jump into the pool and Zayn settle on the side, watching Liam fondly while he splashes Niall.

"Ten pounds says Liam gets Zayn into the pool by the end of the night," Louis says.

Eleanor studies Liam and Zayn carefully before she takes the bet. Liam is leaning against the edge of the pool smiling up at Zayn and tugging on his hand, urging him to join him in the pool. Zayn smiles back at him, cheeks flushed red, but at the same time he's shaking his head.

"I'll take that bet," Eleanor says, shaking Louis' hand to make it official. "I don't care how good Liam is in bed, there's nothing he can say or do to make Zayn get in the pool."

"I don't know about that," Louis says. "If he really is incredible in bed he could tell Zayn that he's withholding unless Zayn gets in."

"Let's be real though," Eleanor says. "Liam would never do something like that."

"This is true," Louis agrees. Then, out of nowhere, he says, "So how are things with Harry?"

Eleanor looks away from Louis, avoiding his gaze and ignoring his question.

"Will you please tell me, El?" Louis presses gently. She knows that he can sense her discomfort and he's not going to force her to say anything she doesn't want to. But if she can't talk to Louis about this, then who  _can_ she talk to?

She takes a deep breath and says so quietly that he almost doesn't hear, "I told him I loved him."

Louis doesn't say anything she's afraid that maybe he really didn't hear her, but when she finally looks at him she knows that he did. His normally sharp features are softened and he's not looking at her with pity, but with understanding, like he knows exactly what she's going through.

And before she can stop herself she’s telling Louis about her entire summer with Harry, about all the things she had been dying to tell him when they happened, but he wasn’t listening. He’s listening now though, and that’s all that Eleanor really cares about.

When she’s finished telling him neither of them says anything, Louis just puts an arm around her waist, pulling her close, and Eleanor rests her head on Louis’ shoulder. Louis kisses the top of her head and whispers, “I’m so sorry.”

Eleanor nods and closes her eyes, loving the rhythm of Louis’ shoulders rising up and down with every breath he takes.

“Look,” Louis suddenly says and Eleanor opens her eyes and sits up to see what he’s pointing at. Zayn is at the very edge of the pool and Liam is leaning up close to his face, his hands on Zayn’s shoulders. Zayn looks like he’s about to jump into the pool but Eleanor still doubts that he will.

All of a sudden, Liam closes the gap between him and Zayn and kisses him hard. Zayn leans into it, kissing Liam back eagerly, when he’s pulled into the pool by Liam with a huge splash. Louis hoots with laughter while Eleanor watches them with her mouth hanging open, unable to actually believe that Liam got Zayn into the pool.

Zayn surfaces while Liam is still cracking up and he looks incredibly pissed off. He dunks Liam quickly but when Liam comes back up he kisses him, and joins in on Liam’s laughter.

“Looks like someone owes me ten pounds,” Louis says grinning.

Eleanor rolls her eyes and says, “I don’t think it counts if Liam cheated.”

“I never said it had to be fair,” Louis informs her. “I just said that he would get Liam into the pool by the end of the night and that’s exactly what he did.”

Eleanor sighs. “Fine.”

They have cake and open presents just as the sun starts to set. After that most people go home but a few people stay and decide to have a bonfire on the beach. Niall and Louis help get the fire started while Zayn and Liam head to the water for a “midnight swim”, even though Eleanor told them that it’s still two hours from midnight.

Eleanor sits next to Louis at the fire while Niall makes them s’mores and Jade tells ghost stories. Jade is in the middle of a particularly scary one when Louis leans in close to Eleanor and asks if she’d like to go for a walk with him. Eleanor close to falling asleep at that point but she nods anyway and lets him pull her up by the hand.

They don’t say anything until they’re well away from the fire and Louis says, “He’s a dick.”

“I know,” Eleanor says quietly. She knows Harry’s a dick, she really does, and she knows she’s an idiot for falling in love with someone who was only temporary. But the last thing she needs is for someone to remind her of how stupid she is.

Louis shakes his head. “Do you though?”

Eleanor stops abruptly and turns on him. “Yes, I do. I was an idiot, I  _know_ that. But I don’t need you to tell me that and make me feel even worse about it.” She turns around and starts off in the opposite direction, but Louis grabs her arm, stopping her.

“That’s not what I meant, El,” Louis says softly. “You shouldn’t blame yourself, none of this is your fault.  _Harry_ is the idiot for letting you leave and not loving you back. If I was ever lucky enough to be with you I would never let you go, El.”

“What are you saying, Lou?” Eleanor asks. Her head is spinning, unable to comprehend his words and what he means by them.

She gets her answer a second later when Louis suddenly leans in and kisses her softly on the lips. He does it so quickly that Eleanor doesn’t even have a chance to respond. When she doesn’t say anything, Louis’ face falls, assuming that she didn’t like it, doesn’t feel the same way about him.

“I should go,” Louis says, eyes downcast. He begins to leave but Eleanor won’t let him get very far. She grabs him kisses him harder than he kissed her. Once Louis gets past his shock he starts kissing her back eagerly, licking into her mouth. He wraps his arms around Eleanor’s waist, pulling her impossibly close to him while she runs her hands through his perfectly styled hair. They stop after some time, mostly to catch their breath, and Louis rests his forehead against Eleanor’s.

“Seriously though,” Louis says breathlessly, “he didn’t deserve you.”

Eleanor kisses him again just to shut him up about Harry. She doesn’t want to talk about him right now, not when she’s with Louis, not when Louis is so much better to her than Harry ever was. Okay, that’s not totally true. Harry was sweet and kind and caring and everything she ever wanted in someone when they were together, he just didn’t feel the same way about her that she did about him. But Eleanor doesn’t care about that now, because Louis does feel the same way, and that’s all that really matters.

“Hey El, can I--  _oh._ ”

Louis and Eleanor pull apart at the sound of Liam’s voice and whirl around to see Liam and Zayn standing at the edge of the water, completely soaked to the bone.

“Hey Liam,” Louis calls to them. “How the hell did you get Zayn in the water  _twice_ in one night?”

Liam grins wickedly. “I have my ways.”

“Maybe we should go, Li,” Zayn says quietly to Liam, but still loud enough that Eleanor can hear him. “It looks like we’re--” He gives Louis and Eleanor a look. “--interrupting something.”

Liam smirks at them and nods. “Alright then, we’re going back to the house now. You two lovebirds have fun!”

Zayn elbows Liam at the use of the word “lovebirds” but Liam just smiles and pulls Zayn back to the house by the hand.

Louis turns back to Eleanor and says, “Well at least we won’t have to explain ourselves to everyone.”

“What do you mean?” Eleanor asks.

“Those two have the biggest mouths I’ve ever seen, besides myself of course,” Louis replies and Eleanor laughs in agreement.

She takes his hand, pecks him on the cheek, and says, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

***

The first day back to school is always the worst for Eleanor. She’s not used to getting up at this ungodly hour and she’s never quite prepared to start learning again. It also doesn’t help that Louis has a party every year the night before the first day, so she usually wakes up with an awful hangover.

She gets dressed and does her hair, still half-asleep, and takes a nap in the kitchen while she waits for Liam to come pick her up. What feels like only a second after she closed her eyes, she hears a loud honk from outside, signaling Liam’s arrival. Zayn is sitting in the front seat and she groans as she gets into the back with Niall.

“You know I have eternal dibs on shotgun, right?” Eleanor tells Liam as he pulls away from her house.

“That’s not a real thing,” Liam says. “And besides, who said you get shotgun every time?”

“Who said that Zayn gets shotgun every time?” Eleanor counters.

Liam smirks. “His boyfriend.”

Eleanor and Niall roll their eyes when Zayn leans over and presses a kiss to Liam’s cheek. Liam’s lips quirk up and he leans over to return the kiss.

“Watch the bloody road!” Niall exclaims in a panicked tone. “I don’t care how much you love him, the fucking kiss can wait until you’re not  _driving_.”

“Hey, no backseat driving, Horan!” Zayn shoots back at him.

“And no distracting the driver,” Eleanor says and Zayn flips her off.

“That’s only a rule if the driver is annoyed by it,” Liam says.

“Exactly,” Zayn smirks. “For example, you two fighting is distracting him in a bad way, so he can tell you to shut it. But if I, say, gave him--”

“Nope!” Niall yells, covering his ears. “I want to actually make it to school with my innocence intact, thank you very much.”

Eleanor snorts. “What innocence?”

“Okay, so I’m not innocent,” Niall agrees. “But I’d really appreciate it if no one talked about their sex lives this early in the morning.”

“Speaking of sex, me and Lou--” Eleanor starts, but Niall claps a hand over her mouth.

“That’s enough for now,” he says. “Honestly, I’m happy for you two, but can we  _please_ save the sex talk for later? Perhaps when I’m not around.”

Eleanor laughs and kisses Niall’s cheek. “Sure thing, babe.”

“Are you sure you’re dating Louis and  _not_ Niall?” Zayn jokes. “Because I swear you two act like a couple all the fucking time.”

“At least we’re not as bad as you,” Eleanor says.

“Let’s be real, though,” Niall says, “ _No one_  is as bad as them.”

“I can’t help it that I have the most gorgeous boyfriend in the entire world,” Zayn says, and Liam blushes, a deep red coloring his cheeks.

Eleanor groans. “Just try to keep it in your pants while we’re at school, yeah?”

By the time they actually arrive at school Eleanor is 1,000% done. It doesn’t help that she’s tried her locker combination at least six times and it hasn’t even budged an inch. She groans in frustration and leans her head against the cool surface. She feels hands cover her eyes suddenly and hears a soft, gentle voice whisper, “Guess who.”

Eleanor can’t help but smile at the sound of Louis’ voice and she turns around to give him a quick kiss before throwing her arms around him.

“God, I hate school,” she says, her voice muffled by his shoulder.

Louis laughs. “You and me both, El. Why don’t we both have some coffee while we drown in our misery together.”

Eleanor can’t think of any better way to spend her morning.

***

The coffee Louis brought her definitely helped. By lunch time she’s no longer in a bad mood and doesn’t even mind Zayn and Liam’ disgusting public displays of affection. Louis slides into a seat next to Eleanor and slinks an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Eleanor sighs in contentment. Her senior year might actually turn out to be her best year yet.

“Harry!” Niall’s shrill exclamation pulls Eleanor out of her thoughts. She freezes and wildly looks around the cafeteria.

“Relax,” Louis whispers, squeezing her tightly, “there are a million people named Harry, it’s probably not yours.”

Eleanor wishes that Louis was right. But sure enough, the same exact Harry she had met this summer, the same Harry that she had fallen in love with, and worst of all, the same Harry that had broken her heart is striding up to their table. He smiles at Niall before looking at the rest of the table. His smile fades when he sees Eleanor.

“El,” he says. “It’s good to see you again.”

Eleanor stares at him, frozen and completely dumbstruck. She has no idea what the hell Harry fucking Styles is doing here or why he thinks it’s okay to act as if nothing has happened. She has to get out of here,  _now_.

“Wait, you know Eleanor?” Niall says.

Fuck, she should’ve known she would have to explain this to them eventually.

“Yeah, we met at that lifeguarding course during the summer,” Harry explains.

“Eleanor, you never told us about him,” Zayn says.

“Huh, imagine that,” Eleanor says, trying to play it cool, but inside she’s screaming at them all to just go away and stop asking questions.

“So, Nialler,” Louis says to try and ease the tension between Eleanor and Harry, “how do you know Harry?”

“He’s in my maths class,” Niall replies. “He just moved here from Holmes Chapel.”

“Oh, so you’re staying,” Eleanor says to Harry, “for...the entire year?”

Harry nods.

And Eleanor thought that she was going to have such an amazing senior year.

“Oh!” Niall says suddenly, “I should probably introduce everyone. Those two,” he points to Zayn and Liam, “are Zayn and Liam, and they’re disgustingly in love. Eleanor you already know, and that’s her boyfriend, Louis.”

“Boyfriend?” Harry says, furrowing his brow. “You never told me you had a boyfriend.”

“I didn’t,” Eleanor says. “Not at the time, at least. We just starting dating a week ago.”

“A week?” Harry repeats.

Eleanor knows what Harry’s thinking. That Louis is just some rebound to help her get over Harry when that’s not true at all. So to convince him that what she has with Louis is completely real she grabs the back of Louis' neck and pulls him in for a long, passionate kiss.

"Great," Niall groans, "Zayn and Liam were bad enough, do we really need another annoying couple?"

Eleanor and Louis smile at each other when they pull away from each other and she doesn't even notice when Harry leaves the cafeteria.

***

"So what's with you and Haz?" Niall asks later that day when they're all hanging out in Liam's bedroom doing homework. Well, Liam is doing homework while Zayn tries to distract him and Eleanor and Niall are playing with their phones. Eleanor would be doing her homework as well but it's the first day of school, and honestly, who gives out homework on the first day?

"You already have a nickname for him?" Eleanor says, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm the only person he knows around here so far, well besides you apparently, so we've became pretty good friends," Niall answers. "So what's with you two?"

Eleanor furrows her brow, as if she has no idea what he's talking about. "There's nothing going on between us if that's what you're implying. We were just at that lifeguarding course together, that's it."

"Sorry, El, but I don't buy it," Liam says, turning away from Zayn whose hand on Liam's thigh is inching dangerously close to his crotch.

"Stay out of this, Payne," Eleanor spits, angrier than she had intended.

Liam looks taken aback because Eleanor hardly ever gets mad at anyone and Zayn is immediately jumping at Liam's defense.

"Excuse you, Eleanor," Zayn says, "but no one is allowed to be rude to my boyfriend except me."

"Well then no one is allowed to get involved in my personal life except me!" Eleanor shoots back.

"So there is something going on!" Niall shouts.

"What? No there's not! What did I say that would make you think that?" Eleanor says.

"Because you refuse to let us know about your personal life," Niall reasons. "If there was really nothing going on then you wouldn't want to hide anything from us. So c'mon, Calder, 'fess up."

"Why would I say anything to any of you?" Eleanor says bitterly. "It's not like you guys are that great of friends. Well, except for maybe Liam."

"Really?" Niall says incredulously. "I am a  _much_ better friend than Liam!"

"You threw ice down the front of my shirt at Louis' party last night," Eleanor says.

"Yeah, you kind of are a shit friend, Nialler," Zayn tells him.

Niall glares at him. "Would you like some ice down the front of your shirt as well?"

"I would love that," Zayn says grinning. "It'd be a nice way to cool down, actually."

"Fine then let's take this into the kitchen, shall we?" Niall says. "Does anyone else want some ice for their shirt?"

"No, but I'll have some water," Eleanor says.

"Okay well I wasn't offering to get anyone water, but I guess I'll get you some anyway since I'm such a  _great_ friend," Niall says.

"Can I get some lemonade?" Liam asks. "I think we have some in the fridge, but if not I'll just have some water. Unless that's too much trouble--"

Zayn laughs and presses a kiss to Liam's cheek. "Sure thing babe. And believe me, nothing's too much trouble for you."

Liam beams and Niall fake vomits on Eleanor. "See what I have to deal with?" he says to Eleanor. "Now if putting up with those two doesn't make me a good friend then I don't know what does."

Niall gets up and hauls Zayn out the door before he and Liam start snogging in front of them for the millionth time. Liam turns to Eleanor when they're gone and says, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Eleanor bites her lip. Louis already knows about Harry so it's not like Eleanor is dying to talk to someone about it. But maybe it would be easier for her and everyone else if they knew so they would know not to bring up Harry or hang out with him around her. And if she told Liam he could tell the rest of them so that she wouldn't have to.

But would they be as understanding as Louis? Would they actually respect her wishes or would they tell her to just get over him? Eleanor wasn't so sure that she wanted them to know her and Harry's secret anymore.

So, with that in mind, she shakes her head and tells Liam that she'd rather not talk about it. Liam nods, knowing what it's like to just want to keep something to yourself, and goes back to his work until Zayn and Niall come back with their drinks.

***

Louis works at the local coffee shop every hour of every day, except when he's at school. So he rarely has any time to hang out with Eleanor because he has to spend the time he has off finishing his homework. That's why Eleanor visits him whenever she possibly can since their only time together during the school year is either at the coffee shop or at school. It's only a bonus that Louis makes  _amazing_ coffee.

Eleanor walks through the doors and stops suddenly when she sees a familiar head of curls talking to Louis behind the counter.  _This day couldn't possibly get any worse,_ she thinks as Louis beckons her to the counter.

"Hey El," he greets, leaning over the counter to peck her on the lips. "I was just teaching young Harold here how to work the espresso machine."

Eleanor's eyes widen as she looks from Louis to Harry and back to Louis with an incredulous expression. "You mean- he's working here?"

Harry and Louis nod in unison and Eleanor could scream.  _Looks like it can get worse._

"So do you want your usual?" Louis asks. Eleanor nods, finding that now would be the perfect time for some coffee.

"Wait, Lou--" Who the fuck gave Harry Styles the right to call him "Lou"? "--can I do it? If I screw up on her it won't matter because she'll forgive me."

There's no way in hell Eleanor will ever forgive Harry for anything, even something as mundane as screwing up her coffee.

Lucky for Eleanor, Louis knows her too well to know that she is not okay with letting Harry anywhere near her coffee, and he replies, "Sorry, Haz, but she likes her coffee a certain way and she doesn't like anyone else except me to make it. But I'll let you have the next one, okay?"

Harry nods as Louis leaves them alone to make Eleanor's drink. On second thought maybe she should've let Harry so make her coffee so she wouldn't be alone with him at the counter. She thinks this is much worse than Harry fucking up her order.

"So Eleanor--"

She cuts him off because she has questions of her own and she doesn't want to hear a single thing that he has to say. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demands.

Harry scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion. "Tell you what?"

"That you were staying," she says. "Did you think it was funny to just let me fall in love with you and then tell me that it can't work even though it could have?"

"I didn't find out until after I went back," Harry tells her. "My dad's transfer was totally last minute and I had no idea about the move until it was too late. But I swear, Eleanor, if I had known that I was moving here I would've told you."

Eleanor doesn't believe him so she just crosses her arms and avoids his gaze as Louis comes back over with her drink.

"One creamy caramal frappuccino for the lovely lady," he announces while handing Eleanor her drink. She sips it and sighs happily because Louis always manages to make it  _perfectly_ every single time.

A couple of customers come in after that and Louis tells Harry to take care of them so that he can talk to Eleanor in private. He pulls her to the booth in the corner near the window that they sometimes sit at if there's not a lot of people around and Louis doesn't have to be behind the counter.

He starts by saying, "I'm sorry, El, I really am. It's just he came in saying that he was the new barista and I couldn't exactly say, 'get the fuck out of here, you broke my girlfriend's heart,' now could I? And he's actually not that bad a person--"

"He broke my heart!" Eleanor protests.

"I know, but he didn't mean to," Louis tells her.

"How could you possibly know that?" Eleanor asks, crossing her arms.

"He told me everything that happened, from his point of view, and I'm sorry, but I actually believe him."

Eleanor gapes at him, not really believing what she just heard come out of Louis' mouth. "You don't even know him!"

"You didn't hear him though. He sounded so fucking earnest and apologetic about it all that I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the guy."

"You're my  _boyfriend,_ Lou. You're supposed to take my side on things like this and not try and make me forgive some guy that broke my heart."

Louis huffs out an aggravated sigh and responds with, "Will you please just give him a chance to apologize?"

And with that, he goes back behind the counter to help Harry with the coffee. Eleanor leaves without saying goodbye to either of them and goes straight home. She can't believe she had had her first fight with Louis so soon after their relationship started. Even when they were just just friends they never fought, not once. Not only that, but their fight, like everything else in Eleanor's life, revolved completely around Harry Styles.

***

Harry finds Eleanor in the library studying for a test during lunch a few days later. He doesn't say anything when he shows up at her table, just pulls up a chair and sits down. Eleanor refuses to acknowledge his presence so she just continues studying as if he isn't there. This proves to be a much more difficult task than she thought, however, when Harry starts to sigh loudly.

"Would it kill you to be quiet for even five seconds?" she snaps at him.

"Well hello to you too," Harry says brightly.

She rolls her eyes. "What do you want?"

"I want you to listen to me," he pleads. When she starts to protest he cuts her off. "I just want to apologize. I was an asshole, I  _know_ that. I shouldn't have told you that what we had didn't mean anything, because it did. But I was afraid that to tell you how much you meant to me because I was leaving soon and I knew that it wouldn't have lasted that long once I was gone, so I told you that I didn't care. But I did, I  _do_ , El, will you please forgive me for being such a dick?"

Eleanor thinks over his words. Louis was right, she thinks, Harry does sound really earnest and apologetic. But that doesn't erase the fact that he broke her heart, even if he didn't want to. If he really  _had_ cared then he would've told her the truth then, not now.

"I don't know Harry..." she starts.

"I know you're with Louis now," he says, cutting her off. "So I'm not asking you for a second chance or anything, I just want you to forgive me. And, you know, maybe be friends?"

Eleanor bites her lip and ducks her head to avoid having to look at Harry's sincere expression and his huge, pleading, puppy-dog eyes. He  _did_ apologize and he  _did_ have a good reason for doing what he did, no matter how upset it made Eleanor.

She sighs and says, "Okay, I guess we can be friends. And I guess I forgive you too. But that doesn't mean I'm going to forget about what you did."

Harry beams at her and replies, "Then I'm never going to stop apologizing for what I did." Eleanor ducks her head again so that Harry can't see her rose-colored cheeks. Harry stands up with a, "see you later, El," and starts to leave, but turns on his heel swiftly and calls to her as loud as he dares in the library, "Oh, one more thing: I'm having a party tomorrow and I'd love it if you came."

He doesn't give Eleanor a chance to respond before he's walking out of the library, leaving Eleanor alone with her books and thoughts. That doesn't last long, however, because soon enough Niall is bounding into the library and the seat next to her.

"You realize this is a library, right?" she says to him.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, there's no food or loud voices allowed in here so I'm just confused as to why you'd ever want to set foot in this place."

"Two words: Zayn and Liam."

"That's three words," Eleanor points out.

"'And' doesn't count," Niall says. "So what are you up to?"

Eleanor gestures to the papers and books spread out in front of her. "I'm just studying for that history test we have next hour."

"Sounds fun," Niall says, rolling his eyes.

" _Loads,_ " Eleanor says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "But, erm, Harry was just in here..." Niall sits up straighter.

"Why?" Niall questions.

Eleanor almost tells him that he was in here to ask for her forgiveness but then stops herself. If she told Niall that then she would have to explain everything else between the two of them, and she really does not want to do that. Especially not in the middle of the library where anybody could hear them.

So all she tells Niall is, "To invite me to his party tomorrow. But I don't think I'm going to go--"

Niall leaps up and yells, "What?" A bunch of heads turn and shush him. Niall flips them off but lowers his voice anyway. "What the fuck do you mean you're not going to go to  _Harry Styles'_ party? Are you fucking mental?"

"I'm having trouble seeing what's so wrong with that..." Eleanor says hesitantly.

"I went to his house yesterday to help him with his math homework," Niall says. Eleanor raises her eyebrows as if to ask,  _Harry asked_ you  _of all people for homework help?_  but Niall doesn't pay her any mind. "And, El, I'm telling you his house is huge! Wait, no, that word does not do it justice. His house is like a fucking castle. And he says that his parents are  _never_  home so he always had these crazy parties back in Holmes Chapel and he showed me some pictures- El, we  _have_ to go to that party."

"You can go," Eleanor says. "But I'm content staying home and watching reruns of  _Downton Abbey._ "

Niall grabs her by the shoulders and shakes them to emphasize how important this is to him. "Fuck  _Downton Abbey_ , Mary and Matthew will still be pining over each other when you get home. Where as this? This is a once in a lifetime opprtunity."

"I'm sure he'll have other parties--"

"I'm sure he will but this is his first party here, in this town, and you know it's going to be  _insane_. So please, Eleanor, you have to come."

"I don't see why you want me to go so badly," Eleanor says. "You'd have just as much fun going with someone else."

"This is true," Niall agrees. "But Haz invited you, not me. So it would be weird if I showed up without you."

"But you're his friend, it wouldn't be that weird."

"Why do you have to be so fucking difficult?" Niall groans. "Why can't you, for once in your life, just let loose and have fun?" He gets off the chair and takes Eleanor's hand as he kneels in front of her, as if he's proposing to her. "Eleanor, will you please, as a good friend, go to Harry's party with me?"

Eleanor rolls her eyes at how ridiculous Niall is being and says, "If it gets you to stop whining and complaining and acting like a total idiot, then yes, I will go to that stupid party with you."

Niall jumps up and wraps Eleanor in a hug. "I swear to god you will not regret coming to this party with me, El." He plants a sloppy kiss on Eleanor's cheek before standing up and starting for the door. "I'll see you later, and you better not change your mind about this!"

"I still don't see why you want me to go so badly," Eleanor mutters to herself as she gets back to studying.

***

As soon as Eleanor arrives at Harry's house she wishes that she had listened to her head instead of Niall and stayed home. The house, as Niall said, is a fucking castle and along with the pounding bass of the music pouring out of the house and the hundreds of drunk kids scattered around the lawn, Eleanor can tell that this is so not her scene.

Eleanor makes her way up to the house with Niall chattering away about how great tonight is going to be while Zayn and Liam trail behind them silently. They wouldn't have come but Eleanor and Niall didn't have a ride (Eleanor would have asked Louis but he was working) and Liam refused to go to the party without Zayn.

Niall leads Eleanor in the direction of the kitchen when they enter the house while Zayn and Liam find a kind corner to talk- or snog- in private. Niall gets himself a beer from a cooler and Eleanor grabs a water bottle. Niall shakes his head and takes it away from her, quickly replacing it with some kind of mixed drink.

"Why do I have to drink?" Eleanor asks as she examines the orange-colored drink in her hand.

"Because you're not going to have any fun if you don't," Niall tells her.

Eleanor wants to disagree with him, but she knows he's right, so she gulps down her drink, which is some kind of alcohol (rum? vodka? she can't really tell the difference) mixed with orange juice. She winces at the taste (she's never been a huge fan of orange juice) and makes a face at the way the alcohol burns as it slides down her throat. She takes another sip after that anyway and starts to follow Niall out into the living room when she's stopped by a strong hand gripping her arm.

"Come on," Harry says, "I have a drink you'll like a lot better."

Eleanor shakes her head and tries to free herself from Harry's grip, but it's no use, he's holding on to her too tightly. "Actually, this drink is fine."

Harry snorts and pulls her back into the kitchen. "You hate orange juice and I'm fairly certain you're not a pineapple rum kind of girl."

"And what kind of girl do you suppose I am?" she says, trying to stand lighthearted but it comes out sounding angry and bitter.

Harry ignores her and mixes her a drink. He doesn't tell her what it is, though, just hands it to her and takes away Niall's drink. Eleanor takes a small sip and actually finds herself enjoying it.

"What is it?" she asks.

Harry holds up a bottle of alcohol. "Watermelon vodka mixed with pink lemonade."

Eleanor nods and takes another drink, wondering how on earth Harry could have known she would like this. Then she remembers a party one of the lifeguards had had during the summer and how Harry had tried mixing her all types of drinks to see what she liked best. That is, until she got so drunk that she liked every drink thrown at her best.

"Did you get this just for me?" she asks Harry because no boy on earth would ever be serving drinks like that at his party.

Harry nods and ducks his head to hide the red on his cheeks and the smile that spreads across his face. "Yeah, if that's okay?"

Now it's Eleanor's turn to hide her smile. "Yeah, it's fine, I mean, we are friends now, aren't we? It's completely normal for friends to buy their other friends drinks."

But to buy another friend their favorite drink even if they don't even know whether they'll show up? Eleanor isn't so sure that that's normal, but she decides it's best to ignore it.

"So where's Louis?" Harry asks suddenly.

"He had to work," Eleanor answers, not sounding as regretful as she meant. She finishes her drink and hands it to Harry to refill.

"So did you come with just Niall?" he asks, pouring himself another drink after giving Eleanor hers.

"No, Zayn and Liam are here too but I have no idea where they went off to," she says. "Niall either...so I guess I'm on my own."

"Don't worry," Harry says, putting an arm around Eleanor, and weirdly enough she doesn't have the urge to push him away,"I'll take good care of you."

Eleanor nods and takes a drink before Harry takes her hand and leads her out into the living room. Eleanor is now starting to feel loose after those two drinks and pulls Harry right into the center of the crowd to dance to "Glad You Came" by The Wanted. Harry laughs at her enthusiasm, remarking, "I still don't understand your obsession with this stupid song," but dances along with her anyway.

They're in the middle of that song by Taylor Swift ("22", Eleanor thinks, but she's not entirely sure since she doesn't listen to Taylor Swift all that often) when Harry leaves, assuring Eleanor that he'll be right back, and goes to the DJ and whispers something in her ear. The DJ nods and switches the song.  Eleanor gasps with delight as the starting chords of "Closing Time" by Semisonic start to play. Harry grins as he makes his way back over to her, mouthing the words, " _Closing time, open all the doors and let you out into the world._ "

He places his hands on Eleanor's hips and pulls her close as she wraps her arms around his neck and rests her head on his shoulder.

"This is my favorite song," she mumbles and closes her eyes.  _Closing time, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here._

"I know," Harry whispers, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Why do you think I requested it?"

Eleanor smiles and Harry starts singing along softly, " _I know who I want to take me home..._ "

"I missed you," Eleanor suddenly blurts.

She can feel Harry's smile against the side of her cheek before he kisses it. "I missed you too, El."

"You make me feel different," she says.

"What do you mean?" Harry asks.

Eleanor giggles, for reasons unbeknownst to her except that she's half-drunk. "Louis," she replies. "You're different than Louis. I like you both, just in different ways."

"You like me?" Harry asks, sounding a little unsure.

Eleanor nods and lifts her head to whisper in Harry's ear. "Actually, wanna know a secret?" She doesn't wait for Harry to answer and tells him, "I think I like you more than I like Louis."

"You do?" Harry says, raising an eyebrow as if he doesn't really believe her.

"Mhm, and I'm not just saying that because I'm half-drunk."

Harry doesn't say anything to that so she rests her head on his shoulder again. He sings in her ear again, " _Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end_."

"Did you love me?" she asks.

"No," Harry answers. Eleanor lifts her head and tries to keep the tears from falling as she pulls away, but Harry tightens his grip on her waist so she can't go anywhere and continues, "I still love you."

Before she knows what she's doing she leans in kisses Harry on the mouth. He kisses her back right away and it's nothing like when she kissed Louis for the first time. Then it was rushed and rough, whereas Harry is nothing but gentle, pressing his lips against hers softly and sweetly. He nips at her bottom lip before moving to kiss her cheek, her jaw, her neck.

Eleanor moves her hands into Harry's curls as Harry slides his hands from her waist up underneath her shirt. Harry kisses his way back up her neck, up her cheek, and against her temple before whispering, "My bedroom's upstairs, if you're okay with that."

Right now, Eleanor is more than okay with that.

Eleanor follows Harry to his bedroom, stopping a few times so he can kiss her because it's been so long since either of them have felt like this before. So wanted, so needed, and so  _loved_. Even Louis didn't make Eleanor feel this way before.

Harry pushes Eleanor against the door of his room as he opens it and now the kiss is hot and desparate, but he's still being gentle with her, not gripping her waist too hard and asking her every second if she's okay, as if she were the most precious thing on earth.

They fall onto the bed and Harry straddles her waist as they both try to tug his shirt over his head without breaking the kiss. When they realize that's impossible Harry stops for just a second to take it off and Eleanor uses that opportunity to take off her own top. She sits up to continue kissing him and runs her hands over his stomach while he tries to unhook her bra. He pulls it off quickly enough and leans down to suck a lovebite onto her neck. She gasps as he does so and knows that it's going to leave a huge mark tomorrow, but she honestly doesn't give a fuck at the moment.

He kisses her collarbone and makes his way down her body, stopping to suck on a nipple as she moans in appeciation and lies back against the bed. He licks and kisses down her stomach until he's stopping to undo the button on her jeans.

"Harry,  _please_ ," she groans because this is the best she's felt since the summer and he's taking too damn long.

He grins up at her as he slides her pants down painfully slow and if he doesn't hurry the fuck up then she's just going to have to finish the job herself, even though she'd much rather have Harry do it for her.

Her pants and underwear are  _finally_ off and he's kissing the insides of her thighs before she feels his tongue pushing its way inside her and she's moaning and gasping his name and obscenities over and over again. It's an artform, the way his tongue swirls and dances inside of her and she just can't take it anymore. She needs to feel  _him_  inside of her  _now._

"Harry," she gasps, "I need you to fuck me."

He lifts his head and stares at her incredulously. "Are you sure?"

Eleanor nods. "I'm serious, Harry, if you don't fuck me now I will murder you in your sleep and hide your body in the river."

Harry chuckles as he climbs back up her body and kisses her lips. "You're very violent when you're horny."

" _Harry_."

"Right, right, just let me..." he gestures to the bedside table and Eleanor nods her understanding. He gets off of her and quickly grabs a condom from the drawer before straddling her waist again. He leans down to kiss her slowly as they both work on undoing his jeans. He kicks them off and she's just sliding her hand into his boxers when the door opens and they both freeze.

"Well this isn't the bathroom."

Eleanor rips her hand out and sits up quickly to glare at Liam, who's staring in horror at the scene in front of him.

"Liam, this isn't what it looks like," Eleanor tries, although she knows that's never going to work.

"I, er, I should go find Zayn," Liam says, backing out through the door.

"Liam, wait!" she shouts and Liam stops, thank god, while she puts her clothes back on quickly while Harry sits on the bed in stunned silence. She gives him one last apologetic look before grabbing Liam's arm and pulling him out the door and into an empty room at the end of the hall.

"Are you cheating on Louis?" is the first thing Liam asks once they're alone. "Is that why you didn't want to talk about Harry the other day? And is that how you already knew him when Niall introduced us to him on the first day of school? And--"

"Liam!" Eleanor shouts. "Will you please just shut the fuck up?"

Liam shuts his mouth and steps away from her. "I'm sorry, El, I didn't mean--"

Eleanor sighs and rubs her forehead. "No, I'm sorry, Li. I shouldn't have yelled, it's just... This whole thing with Harry is totally fucked up and even I don't understand it." She sits on the bed and waits for Liam to say something, but he doesn't. Instead, he joins her on the bed and rubs her back in a comforting way.

"I didn't mean to cheat on Louis," she explains. "I do care about Louis I really do, but Harry... I thought I loved him. He and I met during the summer and I thought I loved him but he said he didn't feel the same way and I thought that was the end. So then I got together with Louis because I believed that he was so much better than Harry, but then Harry showed up at our school and apologized and then...fuck, everything is just so messed up and I don't know how to fix it."

Liam nods and puts an arm around Eleanor's shoulder. She leans against Liam and closes her eyes. Liam makes her feel...safe, in a way that Louis did when she was upset over Harry, but also in a way that Harry did earlier at the party when she said that she was all alone.

There's a long moment where neither of them says anything, Liam just rubbing her shoulder soothingly while Eleanor rests her head against his shoulder, trying not to cry.

"Do you remember when me and Zayn got together?" Liam says after a while.

Eleanor nods- how could anybody forget what a nightmare that was?- but Liam tells her all about it anyway.

"We've been best friends since we were five," Liam starts. "And I'd kind of had a bit of a crush on him since I was eleven."

Eleanor sits up and stares at him incredulously. She knew that Zayn had been head over heels in love with Liam forever. But she had no idea that Liam liked Zayn back for that long.

"Does Zayn know that?" she asks.

"Can you just wait until I'm done telling the story?" Liam says. Eleanor groans and puts her head back on Liam's shoulder. Liam continues, "But I was so busy pining over Zayn that I didn't even notice that Zayn was pining just as much over me." He laughs at how ridiculous that sounds now that they're together. "So remember when that girl from my English class asked me out and I said yes?"

Eleanor remembers that as if it was yesterday. "Zayn came over to my house and I invited Niall and Louis and we all had a good cry while watching  _Titanic_. That was when he first admitted to us that he was in love with you."

Liam nods. "And then you all ignored me for a week after that so I continued dating that girl because I didn't think Zayn cared. But the only reason I ever said yes to her in the first place was because I was tired of being in love with someone who didn't love me back, or so I thought. But after about two weeks we both realized that there was really nothing there. She was a nice person, she just wasn't for me. So the night she broke up with me I went over to Zayn's house and told him everything. How I had been in love with him since I was eleven, how I only dated that girl because I didn't think he liked me back, how every single second I was with her I was wishing that I was with him instead. I thought he was going to kick me out of his house, tell me how stupid I was, but he didn't. He admitted that he felt the same way and the only reason he had been treating me that way because he loved me too and didn't want me to with her. And well, the rest is history."

Eleanor smiles at his story but she's still confused. "That was a beautiful story, Li, it really was, I'm just confused as to what the point of telling it to me is."

Liam chuckles. "All I'm saying is that no matter how complicated things are, in the end it will all work out and you'll be with the person you're meant to be with. Whether it takes two days or two years, whether it's Harry or Louis, or maybe even neither of them, in the end you'll figure it out. And I promise I'll help you explain everything to Louis, okay? Don't worry, El, you're not alone in this."

Eleanor sighs. "Do I  _have_ to tell Louis?"

"Yes, you have to tell Louis," Liam says. "If  _you_ don't tell him then he's going to find out from someone else, and trust me, that'll be much worse."

"Okay," Eleanor says softly. "As long as you're there too."

Liam kisses the top of Eleanor's head. "Of course. Now let's go home, it's been a long night."

***

Eleanor spends all day Saturday trying to think of the best way to tell Louis about what happened between her and Harry at his party the night before. She doesn't get a chance to though because as soon as Louis is off work he storms through the door of her room, shouting, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Eleanor sits up on her bed and already feels her eyes welling up with tears. "Lou, please just let me explain--"

"He broke your heart," Louis says angrily. "He left you broken and miserable and yet you still went back to him, even though you had me. I care about you, El, I love you. He doesn't love you, can't you see that? He just likes to fuck with you, that's it. He doesn't love you, he never loved you, not like I do."

Eleanor shakes her head, not even trying to stop the tears from streaming down her face. What Louis is saying can't be true, Harry does care about her, and he's only saying these things because he's so upset about what happened.

"That's not true," she says quietly.

"Yes it is," Louis spits. "If he loved you do you think he would have said the things he did? If he loved you wouldn't he have at least  _tried_ to make things work? God, how could you be so stupid, Eleanor?"

Eleanor can't take it anymore. She hates how Louis is yelling at her, telling her how stupid she is for falling for Harry, how he always treats her like she doesn't understand or can't do anything for herself.

She stands up and yells, "How can you stand there and say that?  _You_ were the one who told me to give him a chance and let him apologize,  _you_ were the one who told me that he never meant to break my heart. And stop treating me like I'm a child! Don't tell me that I'm stupid or that I don't get how any of this works, because I do."

"I'm just trying to protect you--"

Eleanor cuts him off. "I know that, Louis, I get that you just want what's best for me. But what if you're not what's best for me?"

Louis winces at that, but remains silent.

"Harry might not be what's best for me either, but you need to let me figure these things out for myself instead of doing everything for me."

"I just don't want you to get hurt again," Louis says softly.

"I understand," Eleanor says calmly. "But like I said, you need to let me work things out for myself, okay?"

"So is this it then?" Louis asks, his voice shaking and Eleanor can tell that he's on the verge of tears now. "Are you leaving me for him?"

"I'm not leaving you for anyone," Eleanor says. "I think that it would be best for both of us if we weren't together and just stayed friends."

Louis nods and she pulls him into a hug. "I'm sorry for yelling at you," he mumbles into her shoulder.

"I deserved it," she replies. "But I am confused about one thing."

Louis pulls away from her and raises an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"How did you find out?" she asks. "The only other person that knew about it was Liam, and he wanted me to tell you myself."

"Harry told me," Louis answers. "He showed up at the shop and begged me not to freak out about it because it was a huge mistake and you were both drunk. I kind of broke my promise though."

"By yelling at me," Eleanor says.

"And I may or may not have punched Harry in the face."

Eleanor's eyes widen in shock. " _You what_?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do!" Louis shrieks. "Don't worry, nothing's broken and his face is still just as pretty as ever."

Eleanor sighs. "Do guys know how to solve  _anything_ without resorting to violence?"

"I said I was sorry!" Louis says. "He forgave me, so I think you should too."

Eleanor shakes her head but can't help the way her lips quirk up into a smile.

"So are you going back to him?" Louis asks.

"No," she says. "Not yet, anyway. I just need some time alone and figure out what's best for me on my own."

***

Eleanor doesn't speak to Harry for almost a month after that day. She told Liam what had happened with Louis and he told the rest of their friends so they would understand why Eleanor and Louis were no longer together and why she didn't want to talk about Harry. Niall still hung out with Harry, but he stopped bringing him to their table during lunch and inviting him to do things with all of them.

The first thing Harry says after a month is, "I'm sorry."

Eleanor is at her locker after taking a make up history test that she had missed when she was sick the other day when Harry comes up beside her.

"What for?" she says. "It was my fault too, I have no one to blame but myself for what happened."

"I meant for telling Louis before you could," he says.

She turns on him, narrowing her eyes. "Why the hell did you wait so long to apologize for that? Why couldn't you have said something the next day?"

Harry looks taken aback by her anger. "I didn't know if you'd even want to talk to me after that."

"And what makes you think I want to talk to you now?" she snaps, not meaning to sound as angry as she does.

"Well I had to apologize  _sometime_ ," he answers. "Why are you so mad at me though? Surely me not talking to you isn't the only thing that's troubling you."

"I can't deal with this, Harry," she says. "I don't know if you love me or want to be with me or what. And I just... I can't handle it."

She turns away from him and starts down the hallway but Harry's voice stops her.

"It doesn't have to be that complicated, Eleanor," he says, making his way to her slowly. "I love you, Eleanor, and I want to be with you." He takes her hand in his when he finally reaches her. "Is that so much to ask?"

Eleanor shakes her head before connecting their lips. He makes a surprised gasp and kisses her back forcefully. He licks along the seam of her lips before she opens her mouth, letting his tongue through. She pulls away suddenly and gasps, "We can't do this here."

Harry nods and kisses her again. "Yours or mine?" he asks against her lips.

"Mine," she replies breathlessly and lets him lead her to his car.

"Fuck my parents are home," Eleanor says when they arrive at her house.

"I know where we can go instead," Harry says as he drives away from her street and into an unknown neighborhood. He continues driving until they reach the park.

When he pulls over underneath a group of trees Eleanor reaches over and brings him into another kiss. He crawls over the divider in the middle and straddles her waist, kissing back desparately. He pushes her top up and over her head before they both work on unhooking her bra. Before everything was slow and gentle where as now it's all fumbling hands and hot and rough touches.

Once her bra is off Harry cups her breast and covers it in kisses as he reaches down to push the seat down so that Eleanor is lying on her back. Eleanor moans in pleasure as he sucks on her neck and tangles her hand in his hair.

"Harry," she groans. "I can't wait any longer. I need you--" He bites her neck especially hard and she gasps. "--inside of me. I need you inside of me now."

Harry nods and reaches behind him to open the glove compartment and pull out a condom. Eleanor laughs and remarks, " _Someone's_ presumptuous."

"There's nothing wrong with being prepared to have car sex," he says and swallows her laugh with another kiss.

There's a slight struggle as they try to get their pants off and the condom on but they somehow manage and soon enough Harry's pushing his way into Eleanor. Eleanor gasps and grips Harry's shoulder harder as he goes deeper inside of her.

He presses his lips against her neck as he starts to move and whispers sweet nothings into her ear. Soon enough she's begging him to move faster and moans in delight when he does.

She shouts his name when she reaches her climax, and he follows soon after, biting down on her shoulder to keep from screaming too loudly. He kisses the mark he made on her shoulder as they come down from their highs, panting and breathing heavily.

"I lied," Harry says softly against her shoulder.

"What?" Eleanor says, still a little hazy from the incredible sex.

"Remember when I said that I didn't know about the move here until the end of the summer?"

Eleanor nods slowly.

"Well I did know," he says. "I knew about it the whole summer, that's why I was here, to get to know the town and the people before I had to move here permanently."

"Then why did you tell me that what we had meant nothing to you?" Eleanor asks, fighting off that familiar feeling in her chest of sobs about to start.

"I was afraid," Harry says. "I had never been in that serious of a relationship before and I didn't know what else to say when you told me you loved me."

"How about exactly that!" Eleanor shouts. "Why the fuck wouldn't you have just said that in the first place? What the hell is wrong with you?" She grabs her shirt and tugs it on, not even bothering with her bra.

"I'm sorry, Eleanor. But it doesn't matter what happened then, all that matters is that I love you now."

Eleanor pushes him off of her and gets out of the car, pulling her pants up. "No, I'm done Harry. I can't deal with you lying to me every time I give you another chance."

"Wait, El, at least let me give you a ride back to your house."

Eleanor flips him off and yells, "Fuck you, Harry Styles!"

She heads for the woods by the park so that Harry can't follow her in his car. Once she's protected by the shade of the trees she lets the tears fall and the sobs take control of her body. She can't believe she actually trusted that dick not once, not twice, but  _three_ times. Maybe Louis was right, she is stupid and naive when it comes to relationships.

When she emerges from the woods she goes in the direction of the closest of her friends' houses. When Niall answers the door he doesn't ask her what's wrong, just pulls her into a hug before leading her upstairs to his room. They lay on the bed, side by side, as they finish the episode of  _Sherlock_ that Niall was watching before she arrived.

After the episode, Niall asks her, "So do you want to watch more  _Sherlock_  or I can go rent  _Titanic_  if you want, but I'd much rather watch Benedict Cumberbatch if you ask me."

"He lied to me," Eleanor says instead of answering, her voice still hoarse from sobbing.

"About what?" Niall asks.

Then it all comes pouring out of her, every detail of the summer with Harry, every fight with Louis, every mistake she made. The entire time Niall has one arm wrapped around her shoulder while the other holds her hand in his.

"You know what, El?" he says when she's done explaining everything, resting his chin on top of her head. "You don't need either of them. In fact, you are a strong independent woman who don't need no man."

Eleanor giggles. "Thanks, Nialler. You can go back to watching Benedict Cucumberpatch or whatever his name is."

"Excuse you, his name is Benedict  _Cumberbatch_  and he is amazing in every single way possible, thank you very much." Niall grabs the remote to turn the T.V. back on when his phone starts to ring. Eleanor gasps at his ringtone.

"Is that...?" she starts, but can't even finish her sentence because she can't believe that Niall's ringtone is fucking  _"Closing Time"_ of all things.

"'Closing Time' by Semisonic?" Niall finishes for her before glancing at his phone and pressing ignore. "Also known as the greatest song of all time."

Eleanor stares at him incredulously. "That's my favorite song."

"I know," Niall says smiling. "I also know that you hate orange juice, so I put it in your drink on purpose so you wouldn't get drunk at that party."

"Why didn't you want me to get drunk?" Eleanor asks, confused.

"Harry asked me to make sure that you went to that party," Niall  explains. "I knew what he had been intending to do so I tried to make sure that you wouldn't get drunk and go off with Harry. I guess I kind of fucked that up, didn't I?"

Eleanor can't believe what Niall is saying. "You were trying to protect me?"

"Well, without smothering you too much, but yeah, I guess I was trying to protect you. I mean, I knew Harry was bad news, but I wanted you to see that for yourself, instead of me just telling you because there was no way you were going to believe me."

"It's not Louis or Harry," Eleanor whispers under her breath.

"What was that?" Niall says. "I didn't quite catch that."

Instead of answering, Eleanor leans in presses her lips softly against Niall's. "You're what's best for me," she says against his lips.

"I don't know what the bloody hell that's supposed to mean--"

Niall's words get cut off by Eleanor kissing him again. When Niall kisses her back it's nothing like Louis or Harry's kisses, this kiss feels...right. Like Niall is the person she was meant to be with all along.

They never do get around to watching another episode of  _Sherlock_ that afternoon.

***

Epilogue- April

Zayn sits down at the table and dumps a pile of papers cut into squares in the middle of it.

"What are these?" Louis asks, holding one up.

"They wouldn't let me and Liam run for prom king and queen together since we're both boys, so we're going to stuff the box with these," Zayn explains.

Eleanor takes one and looks at the list of names and, yeah, Zayn and Liam do deserve to win more than any of these people, even if the title means nothing. Plus, it's always a bonus to fuck with the school officials.

"But Zayn that's cheating," Liam says sternly.

"Do you want to win or not?" Zayn says, crossing his arms.

"I don't really care, to be honest," Liam replies.

"Well I do, so hurry up and write our names," Zayn tells the group.

The rest of them get busy writing 'Zayn Malik and Liam Payne' at the bottom of the ballots while Liam scolds them and tells them that they should all be ashamed of themselves.

"You people are a bunch of no-good liars who--"

Liam is cut off by a tall guy with a quiff showing up at their table. "Who's talking about me?"

Louis jumps up and hugs the guy before bringing him in for a long kiss with way too much tongue for Eleanor's taste. Not that she doesn't like a lot of tongue it's just she really doesn't need to see it.

"Everyone, this is Nick," Louis says, by way of introduction.

"Your 'older, hot as fuck boyfriend that's in university'?" Niall clarifies, snickering. He stands up and shakes Nick's hand. "It's nice to meet you, mate, we've heard all about you."

"Only the good things I hope," Nick says, grinning at Louis.

"There are no good things to tell," Louis jokes.

Nick flips him off before pulling Louis in for another long kiss, this time with a lot less tongue and a lot more groping.

"Remember when I used to hate couples always showing off how cute they are?" Niall says to Eleanor.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Eleanor says. "In fact, I think you did complain about it yesterday."

"Well that was only because I didn't have anyone to show off myself," Niall tells her before leaning in to kiss her on the cheek.

"Oh please, Niall, save that for the bedroom," Eleanor says sarcastically.

Niall leans in closer and whispers in her ear, "Oh don't worry, I have some things saved for the bedroom later."

Eleanor bites her lip to keep from blushing too hard, but it doesn't stop the smile that takes over her face. She grabs Niall's hand and pulls him to the dance floor, even though she knows that they both look like complete idiots when they dance together.

She spots Harry dancing with his friend, Ed, a few feet away from her and waves. He nods back and turns back to Ed, laughing hard at something he says. While she and Harry aren't exactly friends anymore, especially not after what happened after their last interaction, they're still friendly towards each other, saying "hi" or waving in the hallways or sometimes even sitting together at lunch. Harry may have done some really shitty things, but he's not a bad guy, Eleanor can see that now.

They dance to a few more songs until the winners of prom king and queen are being announced. The prinicipal looks at the paper with a perplexed expression, and turns around to ask one of the other teachers if they're absolutely sure they got this right. The teacher shrugs so the principal announces into the microphone, "The winners are, interestingly enough, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne."

Zayn cheers from the back of the room and he runs up to the stage, tugging Liam along with him. They accept the crowns before running into the center of the room, everyone cheering for them. They get in postition to dance together but instead of a slow song, the DJ starts playing "Closing Time".

Eleanor turns to Niall who's grinning and holding out his hand. She smiles back at him and takes it letting him lead her to the center, right next to Zayn and Liam. Even though it's not really a slow song, they still dance to it like it's a slow song, Niall's hands wrapped around Eleanor's waist and her arms around his neck with her head resting in the crook of his neck.

"Did you request this song?" Eleanor asks.

"No, I didn't actually," Niall replies.

Eleanor's head snaps up. If Niall didn't request this song then who else could possibly--

Then her eyes land on Harry across the room smiling at her before disappearing back into the crowd. She rests her head back on Niall's shoulder and murmurs, "Huh, that's interesting."

Niall kisses the side of her head and sings quietly in her ear, " _Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end_."

Eleanor can't help but think how true that is.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed it :) I really meant for her to end up with Harry in the end but somehow Niall weasled his way into her heart. Again, I apologize if the sex scenes are not to your liking, I don't really ship them. Leave kudos or don't, who am I to tell you what you can or can't do?


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